Craig Burton: Free Advice to Jim Allchin: Get a Clue, Get a Plan

[ Thanks to Phil Wiggins for this link. ]

"A recent article entitled "Microsoft Executive Says Linux and Its Kind Threaten Innovation" published some comments from Microsoft's Jim Allchin. In the article Jim is quoted as saying "Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer. I can't imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual property business." This is such a ludicrous statement that it deserves strong comment. As a matter of fact, it is so bizarre that it compels me to actually personalize my comments--which I never do--when analyzing the infrastructure business."

"One of the effects of the open source movement and the success of Linux is the commoditization to some of Microsoft's intellectual property: Windows. Linux is a commodity already. It will force at least Windows servers to be commodities. It will have an impact on the value of the Windows desktop. Microsoft doesn't like it. Jim doesn't like it."

"While this email debacle is totally moot at this point--(thanks to Web)--I use it to demonstrate the two-faced position Microsoft has taken in the past and continues to take now. This is what makes Jim's position so laughable and his statements so incredible. The open source movement is no threat to the software industry or to intellectual property. It is threatening to Microsoft and its protectionist practices of the past. The reason Jim doesn't like the open source movement is because it is doing the same thing to Microsoft that Microsoft does to other companies."

Complete Story

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